E-Commerce
You own a small, but successful e-commerce business. You operate the business remotely, so your center of operations is a corner of your house.
You don’t have a fleet of staff members at your beck and call — you might be fulfilling most of the job roles at the moment, from CEO to social media manager. And since you’re a small business run from home, you don’t exactly have a dedicated warehouse to store your merchandise.
Right now, your merchandise is stored haphazardly around your home. The boxes are piled up in your personal office. They’re sitting in your garage, your hallway closet and your attic. Anywhere you can find space for your merchandise, you’ve squeezed it in.
You can likely guess that this isn’t a good long-term plan. You need better storage methods for your merchandise, and you need them soon. Read ahead to find out how to manage this.
Get a Dedicated Storage Space
Your inventory should have its own dedicated storage space. It shouldn’t be cluttering up a space that’s already inuse for the sake of convenience. You will struggle to organize and keep track of your items, and you’ll run the risk of them getting damaged and becoming unsellable.
If you have enough space on your property, you should consider making a storage unit specifically for your business’s merchandise — nothing else. You can do this with the help of a modified shipping container. Go to a website like Boxhub to browse your options for new and used shipping containers that are available near your location. Pick the container that works best for your property size and storage needs. Once you’ve made the purchase, you can schedule your container’s delivery.
You can modify a shipping container to become your ideal storage unit. Install new entrance doors. Add electrical connections and lighting. Paint the outside with your business’s logo. Once those improvements are done, you can collect your merchandise sitting in every corner of your house and keep it in one organized spot.
What if you don’t have enough space in your backyard for a shipping container? Then, you should consider renting a personal storage unit at a storage facility. Choose a storage facility that is close to home. That way, you don’t have to travel far whenever you need to take stock of your merchandise or grab some for-customer orders.
Fight Off Moisture
You don’t want moisture to reach your merchandise. So, you’ll want to do your very best to keep it at bay. While a shipping container storage unit can keep rain and snow away from your items, it doesn’t have built-in insulation to keep condensation away. To minimize condensation in the container, you can add insulation to the walls. You can also install active ventilation systems or dehumidifiers, which would lower the moisture levels in the indoor air.
What if you’re using a storage facility? Choose a storage facility that offers temperature-controlled units. You can also add desiccants like silica gel packets in and around your storage boxes to absorb moisture and keep your merchandise dry.
Raise Your Items Off the Floor
You should never store your merchandise directly on the floor. The floor is the dirtiest and coldest part of your storage unit. If your merchandise is temperature-sensitive, you could risk it getting damaged that way. To guarantee that your merchandise stays in top condition, you should move it to higher ground.
Fill your storage units with durable metal shelves. Put the lightest items on the top shelves and the heaviest items on the bottom shelves. If you can’t fit heavier items on the shelves, store them on top of wooden pallets.
Storing your merchandise doesn’t have to be such a struggle. Follow these storage tips and get your business back on track!
